NHL Draft Day 2: Digesting league trades and pending Islanders picks

The 2nd day of the 2021 NHL Draft begins after Friday featured a range of trades of actual players as well as the usual (but strategically questionable) swaps of two picks just to move up a few spaces. Owen Power was taken 1st overall by the Sabres and center Matthew Beniers went 2nd overall to the Kraken.

No moves from the Islanders on Day 1, but today should be busy. As a reminder, here are their picks going into the draft:

• 2nd Round - 52nd overall (from DET via EDM)
• 3rd Round - 93rd overall
• 4th Round - 125th overall
• 5th Round - 157th overall
• 6th Round - 189th overall
• 7th Round - 221st overall

Other Islanders Reading

• The Isles and Bruins appear to be front-runners for Ryan Suter, who reportedly wanted to make a decision on his next team by Monday. [Athletic]
• The latest in the “My Draft Day” series: Matt Martin [Isles]

Elsewhere

• As many expected, though not for this price and term, Seth Jones was traded to the Blackhawks — for Adam Boqvist and three draft picks, including the 12th-overall selection. Amazingly, Chicago is set to sign Jones for a max eight years and $9.5 million AAV that begins in 2022-23 and includes a full No Movement Clause. Wow. [NHL]
• The Hawks’ big move and signing was...rash and risky. [Second City Hockey]
• The Blue Jackets flipped one of those picks (a 2nd-rounder) to Carolina for Jake Bean, who many thought the Hurricanes would lose in the expansion draft. [NHL]
• Here’s the full trade tracker...in the first round the Predators, Wild and Red Wings were among those making trades to move up in the first round. [NHL Trade Tracker]
• The Canucks and Coyotes completed a major swap of problems, with the Coyotes sending the almost-unmovable Oliver Ekman-Larsson contract and promising Conor Garland in exchange for futures and Vancouver’s three biggest pieces of cap baggage. The Canucks “added a top-line calibre forward and shed nearly all of their inefficient money in one fell swoop. But they’ve done it at a significant cost,” parting with the #9 overall pick, a 2nd from next year, and taking on Ekman-Larsson. [Athletic]
• What did Vancouver really gain here? [Nucks Misconduct]
• The Canucks believe Ekman-Larsson will be their everything. [Vancouver is Awesome]
• After astutely acquiring Ryan Ellis earlier in the week, the Flyers may have undone that advantage by trading the 14th overall pick, a 2023 2nd, and Robert Hagg for Rasmus Ristolainen, who’s been “an awful decision-maker at both ends of the ice” in Buffalo. [Athletic | Broad Street Hockey]
• Ristolainen is, of course, “extremely happy” to escape Buffalo. Wait till Flyers fans get to know his game. [NHL]
• The Sabres also dealt away Sam Reinhart, who should be a great fit under Joel Quenneville in Florida. [Litter Box Cats]
• The Sabres are also still taking calls on Jack Eichel, but we’ll see if anything makes sense for them. [NHL]
• The Leafs will not be able to retain Zach Hyman, who is about to sign a giant deal with the Oilers. It’s a loss for Toronto but a contract they could’ve never considered. [Pension Plan Puppets]
• The Rangers traded Pavel Buchnevich to the Blues for Sammy Blais, who will probably annoy us and get into tussles with Matt Martin and Cal Clutterbuck a lot, but has nowhere near the skill of Buchnevich. [NHL | Blueshirt Banter]
• Logan Maillioux tried to withdraw from the draft (sort of maybe?) after news of his sexual exploitation crime in Sweden surfaced, but the Canadiens proudly drafted him anyway. [Athletic]